One of the most recent fields of investigation in environmental psychology focuses on the relationship between human behavior and management of environmental resources, aspects related to what is known today as sustainable human development. For the authors, this kind of behavior is linked to the relation that people establish with particular environments, specifically, the processes of socioenvironmental identity that condition the people-environment relationship. The authors present the results of a study conducted in the Olympic Village of Barcelona. The urban social identity of residents was analyzed, focusing on three main factors: identification-satisfaction, image of the neighborhood, and perceived social homogeneity. These three factors were analyzed in relation to a series of items in the initial questionnaire referring to proenvironmental behavior, representation of particular natural resources, and environmental attitudes. The authors expected the answers to these questions would differ significantly according to the degree of identification of residents with their neighborhood.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Amérigo, M. (1995). Satisfacción residencial. Un análisis psicológico de la vivienda y su entorno [Residential satisfaction. A psychological analysis of housing and its surroundings]. Madrid, Spain: Alianza.
2.
Brundtland, G. H. (1987). Our common future (Report for the World Commission on Environment and Development, United Nations). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
3.
Devine-Wright, P. , & Lyons, E. (1997). Remembering pasts and representing places: The construction of national identities in Ireland. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 17, 33-45.
4.
Dixon, J. , & Durrheim, K. (2000). Displacing place-identity: A discursive approach to locating self and other. British Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 27-44.
5.
Graumann, C. F. , & Kruse, L. (1993). Place identity and the physical structure of the city. In M. Bonnes (Ed.), Perception and evaluation of urban environment quality.A pluri disciplinary approach in the European context (pp. 155-163). Proceedings of the UNESCO Programme on Man and Biosphere International Symposium, Rome, 1991. Rome: UNESCO-ENEL.
6.
Hunter, A. (1987). The symbolic ecology of suburbia. In I. Altman & A. Wandersman (Eds.), Neighborhood and community environments: Vol.9. Human behavior and environment: Advances in theory and research (pp. 191-219). New York: Plenum.
7.
Korpela, K. M. (1989). Place-identity as a product of environmental self-regulation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 9, 241-256.
8.
Krupat, E. (1983). A place for place identity. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3, 343-344.
9.
Lalli, M. (1988). Urban identity. In D. Canter, J.-C. Jesuino, L. Soczka, & G.-M. Stephenson (Eds.), Environmental social psychology (NATO Advanced Studies Institute Series, Vol. 45, pp. 303-311). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
10.
Lalli, M. (1992). Urban-related identity. Theory, measurement, and empirical findings. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 12, 285-303.
11.
Pol, E. (1996). La apropriación del espacio [Space appropriation]. In L. Íñiguez & E. Pol (Comp.), Cognición, representación y apropriación del espacio (Monografies Psico/Socio/Environmentals, Vol. 9, pp. 45-62). Barcelona, Spain: University of Barcelona.
12.
Pol, E. (1997). Symbolism a priori-symbolism a posteriori. In A. Remesar (Ed.), Urban regeneration. A challenge for public art (Monografies Psico/Socio/Ambientals, Vol. 6, pp. 71-76). Barcelona, Spain: University of Barcelona.
13.
Pol, E. , Valera, S., Cruells, E., Aparicio, A., Pol, O., Reixach, N., Schilman, N., & Vallés, N. (1998). Environment and urban social identity, a case study: Barcelona’s Olympic Village. In J. Teklenburg, J. van Andel, J. Smeets, & A. Seidel (Eds.), Shifting balances: Changing roles in policy, research and design (pp. 222-233). Eindhoven, the Netherlands: Technical University of Eindhoven, EIRASS.
14.
Proshansky, H. M. (1976). Appropriation et non appropriation de löe space [Appropriation and misappropriation of space]. In P. Korosec (Ed.), Appropriation de l’espace (Actes de la A.P. 76 Conférence de Strasbourg, pp. 34-49). Strasbourg, France: CIACO.
15.
Proshansky, H. M. , Fabian, A. K., & Kaminoff, R. (1983). Place-identity: Physical world socialization of the self. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3, 57-83.
16.
Rose, G. (1996). Place and identity: A sense of place. In D. Massey & P. Jess (Eds.), A place in the world? (pp. 87-132.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
17.
Sarbin, T. R. (1983). Place identity as a component of self: An addendum. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3, 337-342.
18.
Simon, B. , Kulla, C., & Zobel, M. (1995). On being more than just part of the whole: Regional identity and social distinctiveness. European Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 325-340.
19.
Turner, J. C. (1987). Rediscovering the social group. A self-categorization theory. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
20.
Twigger-Ross, C. L. & Uzzell, D. L. (1996). Place and identity processes. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 16, 205-220.
21.
Valera, S. (1993). El simbolisme de la ciutat. Funcions de l’espai simbòlic urbà [Symbolism of the city. Functions of urban symbolic space]. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Barcelona, Spain.
22.
Valera, S. (1997). Estudio de la relación entre el espacio simbólico urbano y el procesos de identidad social [Study of the relationship between symbolic space and social identity processes]. Revista de Psicología Social, 12(1), 17-30.
23.
Valera, S. , Guàrdia, J., & Pol, E. (1998). A study of the symbolic aspects of space using nonquantitative techniques of analysis. Quality and Quantity, 32, 367-381.
24.
Valera, S. , & Pol, E. (1994). El concepto de identidad social urbana: Una aproximación entre la psicología social y la psicología ambiental [The concept of urban social identity: An approach between social psychology and environmental psychology]. Anuario de Psicología, 62(3), 5-24.
25.
Vorkinn, M. , & Riese, H. (2001). Environmental concern in a local context. The significance of place attachment. Environment & Behavior, 33, 249-263.
